Splitting a Soul~Chapter 15
The lady did look like a stereotypical librarian. She had on a pair of small glasses that just hit the tip of her nose and her dark black hair held up in a bun behind her head. Her clothes were also very simplistic, with a white blouse and a dark blue skirt that went down to just below the knees. However, behind those glasses were a pair of grey eyes that made me think of Aisling’s. “You look familiar,” Aisling blurted as she made a quick dash for the front desk. She seemed to be examining the woman, looking at her through a magnifying glass or even a microscope. “Are you Athena in disguise?” “No, nothing of the sort my dear,” the lady said in a calming tone and gave Aisling a smile. “Then…are you one of her children,” Aisling asked, obviously interested in this new person. “Nothing of the sort child,” the lady said sternly, her smile turning into more of a frown. “I am the eternal librarian of this library. Now, how may I help you?” “We need information on a few things please,” I interrupted, but Aisling never really seemed to take her eyes away from the lady. “Do you have any books on the gate Persephone passes through when she enters and exits the Underworld?” “You are looking for the Gate of Themis,” she instructed as she began to look through her computer. “It appears we have a book on it in the children’s section.” “The children’s section; seriously?” Jack asked. “I know,” Aisling added. “The one that can save my life and it is at a kindergartener’s reading level. What gives?” “I apologize, but the complete guide to the gate is currently not in stock. The children’s book is all we currently have,” the librarian answered. “I apologize for the inconvenience.” “Could you take us to the children’s section please?” Kimi asked as she walked up to the front desk. “Anything helps.” “Of course,” the librarian said. “Please, before entering the library, turn off all cell phones and deposit any weapons in the bin here.” “Why aren’t we allowed to bring weapons into the library,” Aisling asked, pulling out her ax and shield and putting them in the bin. “This is a place of knowledge. Violence will not be tolerated by anyone in the library. We would ask that all visitors follow this rule,” she informed, but it sounded more like a threat. Jack, Kimi, and I also dropped off our weapons. The entrance to the library had large metal detectors that we had to walk through. There were also several cameras positioned on almost every wall. This place looked more like a high security prison then a library. Eventually, Kimi had to remove her entire jacket because she kept setting off the alarms and I wondered if even she knew how much stuff she had in those endless pockets. “Remember to pick up your things before you leave,” the librarian reminded and guided us into the library. The place truly was amazing and became even more so as we got farther inside. I was right when I said the place looked bigger on the inside, especially when I looked up and saw clouds blocking the view of how high the ceiling was. Large owls could be seen flying around carrying books and placing them on shelves. I saw two owls carrying an especially large book, but they were too high for me to see the title. I was actually so amazed that I almost walked right into a bookshelf when I didn’t notice that everyone else had turned a corner. I kept my eyes forward from then on, but as we walked a large shadow passed overhead and a moment later it was gone. Nothing was above us but the worker owls. “Our library contains every book ever written, and some that were never written,” the librarian said as if giving us the guided tour. “How can you have a book that was never written?” Jack questioned. He looked pretty bored, but then again I don’t think he had ever been to a library. “Not all stories are written on paper and are instead passed down through words or motions. You can see them in that section over there,” she said, pointing to a shelf next to us. Jack snuck over and opened a book, causing a large amount of noises to erupt from the book and Jack slammed it shut. “Quiet in the library please; now let’s continue.” “What is that section?” Kimi asked, pointing to a shelf full of books, but they looked much less organized. They didn’t have hard covers and they were held together with string threaded through three holes in each page. All of them had the same bland covers as well, just a white page with a title on it. “That is our fan-fiction section. A collection of stories based of off of another form of media. They are in no way official, but some can be entertaining,” she said as we passed by. I looked over and I saw a few titles, such as Fastest Hero Alive and The Beast of the Sea. They sounded familiar, but I couldn’t figure out where I had heard the names before, so I brushed it off. The shelf itself just seemed to keep going and going. As we walked by however, an owl flew down with about three pages and threaded them into the back of another book. The owls could thread better with their claws then I could ever do with my hands, but Athena was the goddess of crafts so her workers would obviously have some skill. As I thought about Athena, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that the librarian gave me. She looked and acted just like Athena, except she seemed much more logical if that was even possible. I had also only seen Athena once or twice at Olympus, but those grey eyes that she and all her children had were unmistakable. I just couldn’t figure out who this lady was. “And this is our children’s section. The book you are looking for should be around here somewhere,” the librarian said as she whistled and an owl flew down, landing right in front of her. “Yes, I’d like you to get The Gate of Themis please?” The owl let out a quiet hoot before flying up to one of the top shelves before landing on the shelf and began scanning around. It took a few steps to the right and pulled a small book out with his beak before grabbing it fully with his claws and flying down. It landed on the small table and handed the book to the librarian. “Thank you,” she said gratefully and the owl flew off to return to his work. The librarian then walked over and handed us the book. “This is all we have so I hope it is helpful. Please excuse me as there are other matters I need to attend to. Feel free to ask one of my owls for assistance if you need it.” “We will and thank you for all your help,” we all said and the librarian disappeared in a flash of light that almost blinded us. “Ok, she has to be a goddess or something,” Aisling concluded. “Definitely something,” I added before remembering the book in my hands. The cover was very artistically drawn, with a large archway made of uneven stone and a pair of steel doors that made up the gate. The weird thing was that the gate wasn’t part of a wall, but appeared to just be in the middle of a barren field of dirt and rock. “So who wants to read to the rest of the class?” “I’ll do it,” Kimi volunteered. “I don’t have dyslexia after all.” “Here you go,” I told her as I handed her the book and she opened it to the first page and then she began to read: As chaos rose across the land; Themis extended her righteous hand. She released the laws that were considered divine; And everyone celebrated and feasted with wine. As time went on, the gods were born; War erupted with the sound of a horn. One god’s soul turned black as coal; So Themis made a way to split a soul. “Is the rest of this going to be in rhyme, because I don’t think I can take much more,” Jack complained as he jokingly banged his head against the nearby kids table. Unfortunately, he ended up hitting his head right on an old paint set and ended up with blue paint all over his forehead. “Oh shut up, this is just getting good,” Aisling confessed as she continued to sit on the floor like it was really story time. I on the other hand hadn’t enjoyed it so far, as it was a reminder of how my father had turned against the gods. “Anyway, back to the story,” Kimi interrupted as she cleared her throat and started again, having to re-read a line to get back to her place: Themis made an arch to serve as the gate; But using its power would be tempting fate. Passing into the gate means a deal must be made; A deal that requires a certain trade. Right and wrong are always in strife; The loser would be sent to the land with no life. This was the law that Themis had decreed; But the gate was too risky, the gods had agreed. They fought the god and trapped him away; Leaving the gate unused until one day. A goddess of spring had eaten the fruit from below; So for six months, the world would fall to snow. She passed into the gate, carrying no fear; But the gates choice soon became clear. Because she was alive and dead; The gate simply changed her being instead. She would shift in winter to one who is gone; But return in the spring before too long. These were the rules the gate had upheld; But for all others, part of your soul expelled. “And that’s the end of the story,” Kimi said as she put the book down. “How is that a kid’s book?” Jack as he lifted his head up from the table again, after having slammed it down again sometime between rhymes. “Pretty depressing if you ask me. Also, who was that god who’s soul turned black or whatever?” “That isn’t important,” I snapped, trying to turn the conversation a different way. “Are there any clues telling us where the gate is located?” “Not that I can see,” Kimi said as she flipped through the pages and looked at the covers for anything of value. “Here, let me take a look at it,” Aisling ordered and took the book right from Kimi’s hand in the blink of an eye. She looked at the cover and the title page carefully and then pointed to something. “Here, look at this! It says right on here that this book was printed by the Gateway Arch Publishing Company.” “What does that have to do with anything?” Jack asked as he scratched his head. “The Gate of Themis must be at the Gateway Arch, the most famous arch in America,” Aisling proclaimed as she clapped her hands happily. “And the Gateway Arch is only a few hours from here. If we drive through the night, we could be there by three in the morning.” “Not all of us are night people,” I commented. Despite this being our only bit of good luck today, if we hit something or something hit us that we weren’t ready for, then a team of half exhausted demigods wouldn’t help. This comment however seemed to earn a scowl from Aisling. “Alright, but we leave at shortly before first light,” Aisling complained as she fell back into a brightly colored red chair. “Who says first light? That sounds so old fashioned,” Jack joked. “But it is pretty fitting for a library,” Kimi pointed out. Jack just kind of brushed it off and started to wander around in circles. “So what do we do now?” Kimi asked, looking around at the huge collection of books in the kids section. “Well we are pretty much in the biggest library on earth. I’m sure there must be some useful information around here on something else,” I pondered as I looked over to one of the owls. “Excuse me, but do you have anything on the Great Guardian?” The owl’s eyes seemed to light up at the question. He spread his wings and began to fly before it flew passed us and started down an aisle. Without saying a word, all four of us began to give chase, trying our hardest to keep up. Aisling on the other hand seemed to have no problem at all as she darted down the long aisles after the owl. “Hurry up you guys or we are going to lose it, or get lost in here; whichever comes first,” Aisling commented as she rounded another corner after the owl. “We’re going as fast as we can,” Jack called as he struggled to keep up. Aisling rounded another corner after the owl, but she instantly fell backward as if she had run into something, or someone. “Ouch,” came the familiar voice of an older gentleman. It sounded somewhat familiar, but at the same time it seemed alien to me. “You know you should really watch where you are going. You could seriously injure someone.” We all rounded the corner after Aisling and I saw the figure of someone I knew all too well. It was unmistakable, the Collector, but he looked so much younger, possibly in his mid-thirties. He had used the water from the Fountain of Youth on himself, but the one thing that looked the same were his strange glasses that could see through the Mist.